THE ZEN OF CROSSWORD PUZZLES

Refuge can be found in myriad ways. MYLES MELLOR creates one of the more curious and remarkably lasting places of refuge: the crossword puzzle.

- MYLES MELLOR

ON DECEMBER 21, 1913, Arthur Wynne probably had no idea what he was launching when he wrote the first crossword in the New York World magazine. A few years later, crosswords had become a craze. Popularized by the New York Times, people devoured crossword puzzles and kept demanding more. Since 1913 and all the way up to today, countless other “puzzles” have been developed, but few have endured longer than a couple of years, and it would probably be true to say that more time has been spent on crossword puzzles than any other similar pastime.